One of the goals of meditation is the cultivation of the mind of equanimity, the mind which does not destroy loving-kindness by clinging to its own suffering, but rather relinquishes the clinging to suffering to which we humans are so prone. In his discourses, specifically the Kakacupama Sutta, the Buddha offers us a technique to help us cultivate this mind of equanimity.
"Monks, there are these five courses of speech that others may use when they address you: their speech may be timely or untimely, true or untrue, gentle or harsh, connected with good or with harm, spoken with a mind of loving-kindness or in a mood of hate. When others address you, their speech may be timely or untimely; when others address you, their speech may be true or untrue; when others address you, their speech may be gentle or harsh; when others address you, their speech may be connected with good or with harm; when others address you, their speech may be spoken with a mind of loving-kindness or in a mood of hate. Herein, monks, you should train thus: 'Our minds will remain unaffected, and we shall utter no bitter words; we shall abide compassionate for their welfare, with a mind of loving-kindness, never in a mood of hate. We shall abide pervading that person with a mind imbued with loving-kindness, and starting with that person, we shall abide pervading the all-encompassing world with a mind imbued with loving-kindness, abundant, exalted, immeasurable, without hostility, and without ill will.' That is how you should train, monks..."
The beginning of the technique is to state and reiterate to ourselves the goal of equanimity in the face of suffering. We often struggle to cultivate the mind of equanimity in moments when others speak harshly to us or spread lies about us; these things are difficult enough to overcome. But life is full of far more difficult trials, and the Buddha knows that we need more than mere positive self-talk to help us through them, no matter how eloquent and accurate it might be.
"Monks, even if bandits were to sever you savagely limb by limb with a two-handled saw, he who gave rise to a mind of hate toward them would not be carrying out my teaching. Herein, monks, you should train thus: 'Our minds will remain unaffected, and we shall utter no bitter words; we shall abide compassionate for their welfare, with a mind of loving-kindness, never in a mood of hate. We shall abide pervading them with a mind imbued with loving-kindness; and starting with them, we shall abide pervading the all-encompassing world with a mind imbued with loving-kindness, abundant, exalted, immeasurable, without hostility, and without ill will.' That is how you should train, monks.
Monks, if you keep this advice on the simile of the saw constantly in mind, do you see any course of speech, trivial or gross, that you could not endure?"--"No, venerable sir."--"Therefore, monks, you should keep this advice on the simile of the saw constantly in mind. That will lead to your welfare and happiness for a long time."
The Buddha calls us to an incredibly high standard, requiring us to abstain from hate in the midst of even the most vile tortures, to be interested only in the welfare of even those who hate us and kill us, to give only loving-kindness to those who have a complete lack of it. He invites us to enter into the most profound suffering with a heart of compassion, to experience the sort of torments we might undergo in the most torturous naraka after a deeply unfortunate rebirth without clinging to the suffering we endure in those moments and without allowing that suffering to shape our consciousness so that it passes our suffering onto others through our behaviors.
The Buddha proposes that we hold in our minds at all times the tortures of a hell dimension as an antidote to the poisons of the passion, aversion, and ignorance which might otherwise make our consciousness sick with the pangs of the sufferings we will not relinquish. The Buddha recognizes that to extinguish suffering, we will have to embrace it fully with a mind of compassion rather than avoiding suffering as we so often do.
The Buddha shows us that in order to dwell in nirvana, we have to first endure the torments of a naraka. He teaches us that the way to nirvana inevitably leads through a naraka, that what is better than the highest heavenly plane with all its delights is the moment of our experience of a naraka in which we abandon our clinging to suffering.
This moment is the naraka of nirvana which we prepare for by meditating as the Buddha has instructed us.
The Naraka of Nirvana - The Breath of Moksha - The End of Ātman
By ntennis - I (ntennis) took this photograph., Public Domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25270511
Note: Above is a picture of a mural depicting a hell dimension (naraka) in the Buddhist cosmology.
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